Giveaway winner.

Hello, I'm just back from spending a couple of days with my parents in East Yorkshire. You can tell what we spent most of our time doing can't you, lol.
This was my little area of the dining table. (well actually I took up most of the dining table.) Yes most of the stuff on that table was mine, I don't travel light when it comes craft stuff, lol. I had the most lovely couple of days, just my parents and me (wonderful man was at work) catching up, sharing our news, just spending time together. This is my Dad working on his Hardanger embroidery. All the centers of those little squares will be cut out at the end leaving a lacy open effect. Not bad for a gentleman in his 70's. My mum is completing a cross stitch height chart for new a baby so sssh, don't tell anyone it's a surprise. Beautiful isn't it and such a lot of work.

While I was hand embroidering some new brooches. But I'll show you more of those another time, we've got more important things to do now like... finding out who has won my giveaway!

And the winner is...Luthaisea who will receive one of these pretty brooches.
Congratulations sweetie and thank you to everyone who left a comment, I wish I could send you all a brooch but I think I'd need a second mortgage for all of the postage, lol.
Instead I think I'll try and squeeze in another giveaway before Christmas.

I can't say fairer than that can I.

Love Fi x

A little round up with a giveaway at the end.

Today we need to have a little round up, a little regrouping session as I have found that I am creating faster than I am blogging. That sounds very industrious doesn't it but what it actually means is that my blogging is a bit sporadic, but I 'm working on it honest.
Firstly there are the photos of my finished Christening cake. All made from fabric just in case you were wondering.
This was commissioned by a friend who lives a couple of doors away and I'm glad I have it finished ready for the coming weekend.
I do hope she likes it. She's not seen it yet.

Staying with the food theme. I have a few fabric mince pies in case anyone needs a calorie free version for the festive season.

They make your special cake plates look pretty without you feeling the need to stuff your face with the real thing and pile on the pounds before the big day, lol.

Ah now the bit I've been looking forward to showing you.

I've finished my latest batch of brooches,

and I'm mighty pleased with them,

so I thought I'd share a couple of them with you and ...

see what you think.

Actually I've just this minute decided, as a thankyou for telling me what you think I'm going to have a giveaway!

YAY!

As a token of thanks from me to my lovely followers and occasional readers (all welcome here), because you are all lovely and I do really appreciate the time you take to comment on my blog. And I am very aware that I don't have as much time as I use to, to pop by all of you blogs these days.

So I will offer up one brooch of my choosing (similar to the ones shown here)to the first name out of the hat on...er...

Thursday 24th November.

Not long then!

Only a couple of days!

All you have to do is leave a teeny tiny comment or a whopping big comment the choice is yours, at the bottom of the post. That's it, no jumping through hoops I don't agree with all that having to become a follower and add a link on your blog, blah, blah, blah.
Just make sure I can contact you for your postal detail if you are the lucky winner.

Love Fi x


Edited to add....Please note I had the date for the giveaway as Thur 28th but Sue kindly pointed out that it was wrong so I have now corrected it to

Thursday 24th November, as it should have been.

So spitspot, quick sharp everybody!

thanks Sue.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

THANK YOU.

Bunnies ready for rehoming!

I've done it!

4 pretty, vintage, linen bunnies all finished and now sitting pretty.
A backstage shot of them waiting for their photo shoot, lol.
Oh the glamour of it all!

Yesterday I finished embroidering tails...

and bunny faces. (Ouch! It looks painful doesn't it?)

I stitched on buttons...

and ears.

This has to be the fiddliest part of all as I stitch from one ear to the other, through 13 layers of fabric, wadding and a button for each ear!

(Gosh! I wish I hadn't worked that out, I've still got 2 more bunnies to make!)

But it's all worth it in the end.

They look so cute sitting next to my laptop as I type this...aaaah.

love Fi x

Body parts and chocolate crumbs.

Ssssh!

Hello...it's 11.15pm and I'm sat in bed blogging and trying to eat a bar of chocolate without getting any chocolate crumbs on my white sheets. Failed already with the chocolate crumbs and I'm only on my second square! Don't tell anyone. Wonderful Man is downstairs watching telly. I've also got a can of Barrs Shandy but I'm going to save that until tomorrow. I know how to live it up don't I! lol.

I have a dear friend who swears that the best way to eat an M&S Colin the Caterpillar chocolate birthday cake is to eat it alone in bed with a pot of tea. When questioned about the crumb problem she said it was no problem at all as she eats it at her husbands side and then moves over to her own! Smart girl, I like her style!

Back to blogging.

I've been very busy making bunny body parts over the last few days. Here they all are up in the attic awaiting arms, ears, faces and bobbity tails.

At the same time I've been making a Christening cake that I was commissioned to do earlier in the year.
(see, I can multitask with the best of em!)

There's a lot of stuffing goes into a cake.

My bunnies have been travelling around the house with me in this little basket. During the day I sew up in the attic, doing all the machine sewing so that I can sit downstairs on an evening doing any hand stitching that needs to be done.

And I must say, there is a fair old amount of hand stitching on these bunnies, not to mention stuffing. I'm not a fan of stuffing. I think I'm rather impatient when it comes to stuffing even though I know the best results come from teasing out tiny amounts at a time and carefully poking down little bits until each little body part is nice and firm.

Back downstairs again, we're a little bit further on here. See, two completed bunnies and my cake just needs the wording embroidering on the top and little bit of fancy around it. Yep, my little fingers have been very busy over the last few days.

On the other hand some members of the family have been taking things easy.

Spreading themselves out and taking up far more space than is polite.

And then to cap it all, when politely asked to budge up a bit...

Take offence!

love Fi x

Re Cushion Recipe

This is the back for those who asked (Claire). I actually put this picture in the original post but took it out at the last minute as I thought no one would really be interested, lol.

Luckily the embroidered linen was the perfect size to fit neatly over the top of the cushion making the perfect envelope back. I like plenty of overlap, I can't be doing with cushion backs that gape open, yuk! This one also had it's own pretty lace trim already on the edge.

I'm off to gift wrap it now as it has already found a new home.

Yay!

love Fi x

Cushion Recipe

Take a piece of delicious vintage floral fabric.
and a slice of scrummy embroidered linen.
Add a length of luscious lace.
and a snippet or two of velvet ribbon.

fiddle and faff for a little while.

Carefully smoothing and stroking until...

you have one totally tasty cushion ready to serve lightly plumped on your favourite sofa.

Percolating Ideas.

I'm not sure I should tell you this but I've been brooch making today, when really I should have been making bunnies...ssssh....don't tell anybody.
I've been experimenting a little using paper as well as fabric and hand embroidery. It all started with an old copy of the book 'Little Women' that I found in Wonderful Mans office (don't ask). It had the most beautiful illustrations in it which I though would look lovely cut out and stitched onto something. Well being the kind of gal that I am, there was no way that I could cut up a perfectly good book... any way to cut a long story short; one thing lead to another and that's how I ended up with some vintage style script stitched onto my brooches instead.
Isn't it wonderful how ideas percolate through us and come out as something quite different but with a little bit of 'us' in them.

The pink fabric above the heart is a piece of silk that I hand dyed myself to make the tiny flowers.

I really enjoyed making these. For a while now I felt as though I've been making things just because I can but they've not had any 'me' in them, do you know what I mean?

I think I lost my creative way for a little while.

I did escape for a short walk to the post office to post Macavertycats bunnies. Yes plural, the lovely lady couldn't resist both bunnies in the end.

So tomorrow I shall clear my brooches away and get into bunny making mode for everyone who has requested a little embroidered friend of their own.

As for little friends... here is mine. Sneaky Dog...

trying to snooze while someone kept sticking a camera under her nose!